Katerina Cizek
Katerina Cizek (B. Ontario, 1969), the daughter of Czech immigrants, is a Canadian two-time Emmy-winning non-fiction and digital content creator, who studied anthropology from McGill University (Montreal) and worked as an independent filmmaker and film technician since 1999, before joining the National Film Board of Canada in 2006.
“For a decade at the National Film Board of Canada, Cizek helped redefine the organization as one of the world’s leading digital content hubs. She was the director and creative force behind the NFB’s award-winning digital documentary project HIGHRISE, and she realized the acclaimed NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence program (both with Producer Gerry Flahive).” Cizek worked in dozens of projects at the NFB, The Bicycle: Fighting AIDS with Community Medicine (2006), winner at the International Film and Video Festival (USA), about Pax Chingawale bicycle chronicles to battle AIDS at the grassroots; A Short History of the Highrise (2013), a multi-year, multi-phase project that put the NFB on the interactive map, that traces the historical roots of the residential highrise, from the biblical Tower of Babel to the tenement buildings of New York. A Short History of the Highrise was selected in 14 festivals around the world and was the winner of 6 major international awards.
In overall, Cizek’s work has been recognized with 2 Emmys, a Peabody Award, World Press Photo Prize, 3 Canadian Screen Awards, a Webby. Cizek is the Co-Founder and Executive Producer of the Co-Creation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
